Follow me on adventures in art, education, and yoga

Disclaimer

This is a personal blog. I am working with a grant provided by the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program, all views and information presented herein are my own and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program or of the U.S. Department of State.

Wanderlusting topics

Chennai Photo Biennale

It’s hard to believe that with all of these posts, I still haven’t gotten into March! One of the last events I attended in February was the Chennai Photo Biennale. It was simply one of those things you actually couldn’t avoid. BUT- Why would you want to!?! There were photo exhibitions all over the city. Some in galleries, some in restaurants, but many that were out in public. Many performances and happenings occurred around the city at different times and places. It really felt electric throughout the city, because you never knew when you would happen upon an exhibit, and when you did, it was always something intriguing, thought provoking, and surreal.

A perfect example of this occurred in my neighborhood. I lived in the oldest neighborhood in Chennai called Mylapore. It is known for it’s temples, it’s also considered the center of the city, because everything built up around it. It’s a very historic part of the city, and I loved being able to walk around and view all temples mixed into the contemporary apartment buildings, old shops and restaurants. One of the best places in the entire city is actually a park. Nageswara Rao Park is a large park where people walk, jog, play badminton, have fun on the jungle gym and swings, and of course do yoga. It’s a lively place. It got even more livelier when a photo exhibit was placed all around the park. It was an amazing exhibit, with giant poster sized photos from a group of international photographers. Their topics focused on a variety of social justice issues which included: child marriage, race relations, poverty, homelessness, and culture. The pictures were from around the world. Not just focusing on India.

I walked through this park most days, but when the exhibit was there, I made sure I passed through it everyday. One day I saw people taking down the exhibit, and soon it was gone. The park was still great, but for a while I felt like there was something missing. Art in public provides a profound experience for those who interact with it. What an amazing change for this particular community to interact with the photography and also the messages it conveyed.